Courtly Treasures Opens

Courtly Treasures: The Collection of Thomas W. Evans, Surgeon Dentist to Napoleon III is now open for viewing at the University of Pennsylvania’s Arthur Ross Gallery.

Grandiose scale, sumptuous surfaces, and superb craftsmanship are featured in this exhibition of over 130 artworks from the collection of Dr. Thomas W. Evans (1823-1897). As the Philadelphia-born dentist who served the French court of Napoleon III, Dr. Evans assembled a premier collection of paintings, sculpture, furniture, and decorative arts. Drawn from the University Art Collection and School of Dental Medicine’s Thomas W. Evans Collection, the exhibition offers exclusive highlights from the Evans Collection seen for the first time in 48 years. Courtly Treasures is co-curated by the Arthur Ross Gallery and the Office of the Curator, and celebrates the Centennial of the Thomas W. Evans Building in the School of Dental Medicine.

The exhibition will transport viewers back to France’s Second Empire and all of its power, politics, and glory. Historic military paintings such as Henri-Louis Dupray’s monumental salon painting, Grandes manœuvres d’automne (1883) and Le cheval déferré (1880) provide context for the political and social times in which Dr. Evans lived. Masterful portraits include a half-length portrait of Dr. Evans by the renowned French portraitist Henri Gervex (1892) and several works by George Peter Alexander Healy. Portrait busts include marble likenesses of Thomas W. Evans by Elisa Bloch (1896) and a plaster bust of Empress Eugenie by Alfred Émile O’Hara de Nieuwerkerke (1857). The American artist Hiram Powers’ iconic Greek Slave (1844) is also on view.

For lovers of decorative arts, Courtly Treasures offers a dazzling array of exuberant and masterful treasures. A silver and gold sculpture of St. George slaying the dragon tops an enormous gold tankard made by goldsmiths R & S Garrard (1877), which was presented to Dr. Evans by the Prince of Wales. A pair of Indian gold-mounted trophy horns (1884), also a gift from the Prince of Wales, bespeaks the vast expanses of Britain’s colonial empire. Among the many artifacts that represent Napoleon III and the Empress Eugénie, the collection includes a gilded Napoléonic letter holder and a blue Sevres porcelain tea set in the Chateau de Compiègne pattern. The exhibition is free and open to the public, and remains on view through November 8, 2015.